Skin is the largest organ of the human body and is responsible for a number of bodily functions, including protection, temperature regulation, absorption and excretion necessary for bodily regulation, etc. Skin aliments or disorders, however, may retard the skin's function and may limit its ability to protect the body. Moreover, skin ailments may cause irritation, discomfort and/or pain to an inflicted individual.
Examples of skin ailments include rashes, including those caused by contact with rash-causing source, such as poison sumac, poison oak, poison ivy; bites or stings, such as from bees, yellow jackets, wasps, spiders, mosquitoes, cats and dogs; burns, such as first or second degree burns; sunburn; rosacea; sores, such as bed sores and Herpes sores; Kaposi's sarcoma and other skin ailments associate with HIV and/or AIDS; scarring, such as from surgery or via keloid scarring; warts, such as plantar warts; hemorrhoids; anal sphincter muscle tears; and cuts and scrapes, and the like.
There remains a need in the art for compositions that are effective in treating these and other ailments, ameliorating their symptoms, such as pain, discomfort and/or swelling, and reducing or preventing infection. Furthermore, it would be desirable for such compositions to be available as “one pot” or “single component” formulations. It would also be desirable for such compositions to be useful for more than one of these skin ailments, so as to be a multi-purpose medicament for various skin ailments.
There also remains a need in the art for compositions that can be used to treat viral, bacterial and fungal infections of the skin. Such skin infections may result from other skin ailments, or the skin infections may occur independently of any other skin ailment. Environments such as hospitals and nursing and retirement homes may have a relatively high risk for developing and transmitting antibiotic resistant bacteria. Compositions that can be used to treat antibiotic resistant bacteria would therefore be particularly desirable for use in these environments.